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German Government Launches YouTube Channel, Lets Citizens Interview Chancellor

Megan O'Neill — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:55:12 +0000

In recent years we’ve seen a rise in government on YouTube, from the United States to the UK, Israel and beyond. More and more politicians are making their way onto YouTube, to open up a new channel of conversation with their constituents, and the latest to jump on this bandwagon is Germany. Yesterday, the German federal government launched their new YouTube channel, Bundesregierung, and announced that German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be answering citizens’ questions via YouTube next month.
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Generation Opportunity — A Tool for Grassroots Movements for Young Americans

Kenna McHugh — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:00:46 +0000

One of the fastest growing and largest grassroots organizations in the nation helping to organize and mobilize young adults through a strategy based on social media and ground operations has launched a new grassroots website — Generation Opportunity.
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Federal Agencies Lack Measures to Maintain Social Media Security

Kenna McHugh — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:40:14 +0000

An interesting report came out last week concerning federal agencies using social media. Less than one third have made the effort to create safeguards against hackers, who can exploit their accounts to launch cyber attacks against government networks.

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Town with 25K People Trading in Massive Paper Agendas for iPads

Todd Ogasawara — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:50:31 +0000

Here’s a story about a town government making some interesting decisions gadget-wise and waste-wise: Cornelius, North Carolina.

Town Turns to iPads in Cost-Cutting Move (New York Times)

The town commissioners meeting agenda package is generally about 200 pages pages. Twenty copies of the agenda is made each time one is produced. The town government plans to buy 16 16GB WiFi-only iPads (based on the $500 per unit price noted in the article) to reduce the number of printed agendas for each meeting. The town government expects to recover the cost of the iPad in about 1.5 years.

There’s a bit more to using an iPad than just having the device, of course. Software (apps), Apple Care (extended warranty) and WiFi (or 3G-to-WiFi tethering) network connectivity involve additional costs. Still, it sounds like the town official have thought this through and are on their way to an iPad-ized government.

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Residents now can Report Non-Emergencies Through Website, iPhone, Facebook

Kenna McHugh — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:55:38 +0000

Two-way communication between citizens and their local government took a giant step forward recently when CivicPlus, a leading developer of open government technology, added the Citizen Request Tracker (CRT) Facebook application to its CRT Suite for government websites.
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New Terrorist Alert System Will Include Facebook and Twitter

Kelsey Blair — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:00:24 +0000

Where were you when the Twin Towers were hit? Most Americans, and many people from around the world, can answer this question with absolute certainty. However, if there is another terrorist attack, how will you hear about it? In the second decade of the new millennia, there’s a pretty strong chance a Twitter update might inform you, and that chance just got even higher. The United States government is bringing in a new alert system which uses Twitter and Facebook.
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White House Explains 'Startup America' with Markers

Kenneth Musante — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:29:18 +0000

Still confused about Presidant Obama’s Startup America program? Well, Austan Goolsbee, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, has drawn everything out for you on a white board.

As part of the White House White Board series, Goolsbee explains how the public-private initiative is trying to get entrepreneurs over the “valley of death.” He actually presents a fair overview of how it’s all theoretically supposed to work: Entrepreneurs need capital, less red tape, mentorship, and low taxes.

He goes on to say that “Americans understand the business model of a kid in a garage who creates the giant company. We invented it! We’ve done it before, we’re doing it now, and with Startup America we’re gonna do it better than ever!”

You said it Michael Scott! Er… I mean Chairman Goolsbee.

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Obama Launches Startup Non-Profit

Kenneth Musante — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:38:35 +0000

In a bid to encourage U.S. entrepreneurs, the White House launched the Startup America Partnership, a non-profit campaign to encourage the development of new businesses.

With backing from Facebook, IBM, Intel; and leadership from AOL founder Steve Case, Startup America, the campaign pledged to provide $2 billion in matching funds from the Small Business Administration to select startup companies.

In partnership with Colorado-based startup incubator TechStars, the campaign also intends to expand the TechStars mentorship model to nurture 6,000 new entrepreneurs around the country; and encourage large businesses to invest in smaller ones. IBM has pledged to invest $150 million in new entrepreneurs, and Intel has pledged $200 million, according to U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.

Other partners include Facebook, which intends to host startup events around the country, HP, and Google.

Startup America will be funded in part by Case’s Case Foundation and the entrepreneurship-focused Kauffmann Foundation.

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New Government Database Tracking All Consumer Complaints to Make Us More Social?

Ellie Cachette — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:00:40 +0000

In 2008 the federal government approved a project to make a large and extensive database for consumer complaints. Bad publicity gives online retailers more SEO juice, like this one “…the more replies people post, the more negative business and the more hits and sales I get.” This week’s Wikileaks drama shows us that even the politically neutral care about government bribery, just as the U.S government wraps up a two year project for building a large consumer complaints database that will not include complaints against cars, tires, cosmetics, drugs, or FOOD. This past summer over 500 million eggs were recalled for Salmonella yet the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) subscribes to a policy that is perfect for breeding health epidemics “The FDA’s approach is: We assume food is safe unless there is a problem.” With a new food safety bill passing through Senate and regulations not catching up nearly as fast as technology can evolve, people have to ask themselves, will new databases make consumers more social?

THE DATABASE

Approved back in 2008 and recently amended by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the large U.S consumers complaints database is to launch March 2011. Complaints will be disclosed regardless of if a recall is initiated though there will be a brief time in the beginning where companies can block complaints. No further details on what makes a “brief time” have been made public.

WHAT WILL IT DO

With one main database, filing complaints will be easier and more visible for consumers than ever before. The goal would be to speed up any issues with consumer products that arise. The problem is only a fraction of consumables would qualify for submission.

WHY WE SHOULD CARE

Catching retailers committing fraud and toys that have safety issues will be easier than ever. Collective power could speed up the resolution of issues regarding products. As consumers we have everything to benefit and while those opposing the database claim there will be room for error if the floodgates open aka “Yelp Syndrome.” Undoubtedly increased transparency will leave consumers knowing more, faster.

NEXT WAVE OF PROTECTION

So will the new government sponsored database force consumers to be more social? If the power of information is behind complaints being submitted, then alternative methods will certainly open up for us to want sharing information to be easier and more personalized. Alternatively with online use shifting over to mobile (even with iPads) it should not be long before consumers start to trust and want to build upon such databases, whether publicly or privately managed.

In the meantime there are already several apps launched by start-ups blazing the path for consumers reporting and rights. What program or source have you found to be helpful? Tweet at me your suggestions to @ecachette and let’s see which apps are currently most helpful.

Sometimes it just takes too long waiting for the government to save the day but we hold hope anyway.

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Is the Federal Government on Your Friends List?

Katie Kindelan — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:17:41 +0000

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the San Francisco-based civil liberties group, has published new documents showing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) turned to social media to protect the president and sniff out fraud, going so far as to create a separate entity to track the online world and giving special agents free rein to friend, poke and Tweet away.

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New Media, Same Regulations According to California Political Campaign Watchdog

Lauren Dugan — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:30:45 +0000

Another political campaign watchdog group has joined the ranks of those calling for more regulations of online content published by politicians. The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), a California-based group, released a report Monday detailing their recommendations for political messages transmitted via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and their compatriots. The bulk of their recommendations boil down to one point: social media should be regulated in the same way as traditional media. This approach – lumping social media in with all other media – has been a popular one lately, but is it the right move? Read on for more details from this report and analysis.
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Facebook Page Caught Between Government Censorship and Public Morality

Lauren Dugan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:33:00 +0000

A new Facebook group was created – and subsequently deleted – that is creating some tension between the UK government and lawmakers, and Facebook itself. The group is a memorial page for Raoul Moat, a man who attempted to kill his ex girlfriend, killed her new lover, and wounded a police officer before shooting himself while cornered by police. Attracting more than 38,000 fans before its creator took it offline, the group “R.I.P. Raoul Moat You Legend” is still stirring up controversy over the question of governments and lawmakers versus public morality: Should governments have a right to step in when there is an issue of public morality at hand? And does the fact that this is occurring on a social network have anything to do with it?
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Federal Trade Commission Invites Public Comment On Twitter Settlement Until July 26th

danimanor — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:31:20 +0000

The FTC wants you, the users, to comment on the settlement which would ban Twitter from misleading consumers about the extent to which it protects your privacy.
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'Facebook for Feds' – U.S. Government to Launch Fedspace

andrewgr — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:20:30 +0000

In an attempt to foster better communication between U.S. government agencies, the State Department plans to launch FedSpace this fall, a social networking portal for federal employees. While not the government’s first foray into social networking (Intellipedia, a top secret network, recently celebrated its fifth anniversary), it is expected to be its largest digital undertaking to date.
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Could A Microsoft Game Solve The National Debt Crisis?

Neil Vidyarthi — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:52:07 +0000

A congressional commission co-chair, Erskine Bowles, has asked Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about the possibility of developing a game that allows players to solve the national budget deficit. This is certainly a stretch of the word ‘game’ by any means, but the news is a sign that games represent more than just entertainment: they represent a key way to get the interest of the population. The game mechanics are still undetermined, but former Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey, who worked on a similar commission in 1994, thinks a title like this could “go viral”, possibly implying that the game would do best to leverage social networks.
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